Hurricanes breeze past West-Oak, 49-7

PIEDMONT – The Wren High football team had no trouble bouncing back from its first region loss to Daniel, dominating West-Oak in a 49-7 victory last Friday night.

Hurricane coach Jeff Tate, whose team is now 6-2 on the year, said he is hoping his team will use each game as a building block to the team’s ultimate goals.

“We’re trying to do what we can do to get ready for BHP and other teams we might have to face in the playoffs so that when we get there we’ll have a chance to be competitive,” Tate said. “Right now we just have to take it one game at a time.”

Tate said his team has proven to be force to be reckoned with on offense this season, scoring more than 40 points in three of its wins so far this year.

“We’ve been very consistent offensively all year,” Tate said. “We’ve been able to score points and we’ve taken care of the ball fairly well. Those are the things you have to do and we feel good about where we are.”

Standout quarterback Kelly Bryant has been on fire for the Hurricanes this season. One of his most impressive performances came in the loss to top ranked Daniel, as he rushed for 90 yards and threw for nearly 400 yards.

“I knew that Kelly (Bryant) was an athlete, but other than that, I didn’t really know much about him before the season,” Tate said. “He has shown great poise and execution. He continues to show his ability to make the big play when things don’t look like they’re going to turn out very well. He’s been very consistent and he’s been what a quarterback should be.”

The head coach said this is one of the most talented offenses he has coached.

“This is one of the better offenses we’ve had at Wren,” Tate said. “We’re averaging over 200 yards rushing and we’re averaging right around 300 yards passing. We can move the ball, but the biggest thing right now is our defense. We’ve got to be able to stop people when it counts.”

Wren will face Walhalla on Friday night, and Tate said his team simply needs to worry about the next game and try to get better.

“We’re going against a Walhalla team that has had a tough go so far,” Tate said. “They’re young and they don’t have a lot depth. As a coach, I know that can be really difficult. We can’t worry about what other teams are doing, however. We have to improve ourselves.”

As the season winds down, Tate said it is important for his guys not to try to look ahead as playoffs approach quickly.

“We’re not in the playoffs yet,” Tate said. “We’ve got to secure that by winning games. The only thing we can take care of this week is our next opponent. Right now we’re 3-1 in the region so going forward, it’s very important for us to be sound in what we’re doing.”